this offseason has had me thinking quite a bit about the position that JD and the front office have been approaching the game, and what could be going through their heads as this crazy hot stove season plays out.

as we all can plainly see, there are many different types of personalities when it comes to GM's. we see the methodical, analytical types (JD, Cashman, O'Dowd) and the splashy, aggressive types (Colletti, DiPoto, Amaro). the first group are a lot like tight poker players. a tight poker player is simply one that does not play many hands. not only is he selective about the hands he does play, but also the position from which he plays them. the second group are a lot like loose poker players. a loose poker player is one who never saw two cards he didn’t like and will jump into just about every pot ready to gamble. It is hard to tell what he is holding, because it could quite literally be anything. passive players rarely raise and simply call or limp into pots. because they are timid they can often be knocked off pots by aggressive play as they are nervous when the action gets hot and heavy.

anybody who has played poker for money can tell you that the timid, passive player rarely wins. sure, he may stay in the game for quite some time, and win a pot here and there, but eventually his passive nature leads to his stack of chips getting slowly whittled away until he is no longer a factor in the game. the loose, aggressive player, on the other hand, can have wild variations over the course of the game. he wins and loses monster pots. he is not afraid to splash around, because he knows if he can win that one monster pot, he will be in a position to dominate the entire game. once he gets that huge stack of chips in front of him, he uses it to bully the rest of the table into submission.

baseball teams are in the game to win rings and trophies. all teams, for the most part, conduct their business with that end goal in mind. get to the world series and win the trophy. banners hang forever. the Rangers have been in a prime position over the past few years to be aggressive and try and put a team together that can get the trophy. there have been numerous opportunities over the past 2 offseasons to either sign or trade for players that would greatly enhance the teams chances of adding a trophy to the trophy case and a banner in the outfield. for whatever reason, it seems like our front office has decided to play their hand very close to the vest. their stack is being slowly whittled away, and with every chip that keeps getting handed to the aggressive players in this game, their chances of winning the big prize are slowly fading away.

the Rangers stack of chips is still relatively large. they still have opportunities put some of those chips into the pot and try to win the monster. but if they're not careful, they are going to protect that stack of chips until it no longer wields any power at the table, and they'll be forced to go all-in to try and save their stack. i hope it doesn't get to that point.

Since the consensus is there are no greats out there to chase, the last thing anyone would want to do is spend our $$ chips and minor league player chips for a "not worthy player" so that when a great player is available, we have the resources they want instead of a pile of so so players like being mentioned. There will be teams that have the classic fail and make players available. Right now Miami will not turn Stanton loose, but what will they want to do in June. Of the **greats** mentioned that we missed on, Greinke is the only one I regret missing, and he was not worth near what he was signed for. It is a poker game, but betting it all on a pair is not wise because when that full house is dealt to you, you have nothing to bet.

Well said Wayne. If you're just trying to play with the aggressive players you may not have any bullets when the chip you really want becomes available ie Stanton. You think the angels have pieces to get Stanton if he becomes available? Not even close.

There are timid players, and then there are wise players. Just because you are not "fast and loose" does not automatically make you timid. I think the Rangers are in the middle, making a big play when they deem it necessary and holding until that play comes along.

Agreed @lwayne. @romeo, and @husma

The reason I'm totally fine with the rangers not making any of the moves is that I don't think the difference between a trade for someone as valuable as Price or Stanton is going to be proportionately more expensive than what was paid for Dickey and Shields. It just doesn't make sense to pay the premium for one step below premium talent when the cost of premium will be close to the same- and playing in the 'one step below premium' market will eliminate you from contention for the real prizes.

Go bargain hunting or go for the real prizes. Price and/or Stanton will be available in the next year. Book it.

I'm beginning to think it's becoming a social bit, over not just losing FA signee's and trade deals, to fate.
We've all known people that are "book smart", but the personality does not quite go to the top floor,
in a social interactive inviroment.

A good, all-around GM must wear several hats. If JD is not using all his formidable staff to wrap, close
and turn the deals, then the structure is in certain fail mode. As a Manager, you're only as good as the
people that surrround you. My understanding is, Thad Levine is well respected in the circles of GMdom.

Bean counters & meat heads, don't work well in a Poker Enviroment. I'm hearing these assumptions,
in more corners than I'd like to admit. Some make the press in small areas. I'm not trying to point a finger
per se, but usually, where there's smoke there's fire.

Maybe the problem lies more than in OUR players having problems communicating what's best for the team,
organization, and oh yeah, the Fans. Maybe it's just me and a few others, seeing similar non-activity dealings
with players, agents, player and FA market? It's so stealthy, really, how would we really know to correct or not?

I like the young team we have now. I love the farm, scouts and all the army ants that keep the Club moving up.
I just don't have a clue, as to where or how it's evolving in MLB focus. The misinfo, tap dances and card shuffling
on market moves, leads me to think there's no War Board in the War Room. OK, let's go with youth and tweak
and fill, but please drop the stealth with fans, have a press conference every so often and tell the fans 'Tis the
Season to be Merry.... here's our continued focus towards the West Flag Championship... or NOT, I can take it.

There are actually 4 types of poker players. Aggressive and passive while opposites can be further broken down to tight and loose. The winning type of poker player is tight but aggressive. He plays few hands but when he plays them he plays them hard because he sees the value behind the hand. Loose passive, also known as the calling machine, the loose aggressive players along with the aforementioned passive tight player are all easy players to beat. Tight aggressive players also known as "solid" poker players choose hands wisely, and when they do they shove. (Yu darvish).

If we were to take this poker metaphor to a logical conclusion, EV (expected value) must be a primary consideration. The OP equated tight with passive for reasons unknown (maybe a poker noob), but from everything I've seen JD has been tight and aggressive, a trait that is considered most profitable in poker. A tight, aggressive playeer is one who will let many hands go by because he doesn't see much in the way of positive expected value (+EV). He therefore avoids many -EV situations altogether. We can get into much more complicated poker parlance and how many on this boat d want to shove all-in on a four-outer and such, but what I've seen from JD is shrewd business and a cold, calculating mind like that of one of the greats in poker, Allen Cunningham. He isn't a marquee name, he just wins, and wins big.

My analysis of poker comes from the poker bible, to me JD isnt leaking his stack by making bets on bad hands. the EV isn't worth the risk for players like Hamilton (who I booed the living hell out of since the AS break, probably more bats thrown into rf than HR's,) or Greinke. Let them waste their stacks, we will be sitting heavy when Aces fall (Price) or Kings (Stanton) [my aces and kings should be switched in terms of value but I figured I'd let the pitcher be aces]

Ha was just bringing up EV, well said candab. I agree JD is solid